Seek: Wuxing Tables

[Friend]

Edited November 16, 2011 by Friend

[al.]

Hiya Friend!

 

There's this concept in medical theory of the 'five taxations' which relate the five elements to lifestyle habits.

 

Off the top of my head they are-

 

too much staring taxes Fire (blood, heart)

too much lying down taxes Metal (qi, lungs)

too much sitting taxes Earth (muscles, spleen)

too much standing taxes Water (bones, kidneys)

too much walking damages Wood (sinews, liver)

 

So, as is often said, moderation is key!

 

a

[ChiDragon]

Five Element Theory

[Taomeow]

I am seeking a long list for assoziation of 5 Element Phase Theory

which should involve jobs, modern activity like watching TV, playing Console Games,

spiritual practises, more life style oriented than medical or food and/or how to

find out what what is and the booby traps.

 

Thanks in forward.

Q

 

This can't be compiled into lists, it has to be analyzed. Basically, you do an individual reading, and start your analysis by determining the lucky and unlucky phases. "Elements" are only part of "phases" -- e.g. Fire is not just the "element" of Fire but the phase of qi associated with all kinds of "burning," i.e. expenditures rather than conservation and consolidation of energy, electricity, upward motion, faster motion (of molecules, chemical and electrochemical processes, metabolic processes, as well as physical motion too), domination of yang compared to other phases, mental as opposed to physical, the visible as opposed to the hidden, clinging as opposed to nonattachment, heat, the sun, pyramid shapes, the heart and the head and intellectual activities, consumption as opposed to production, and on and on. And all of it is only relatively and generically true, not "absolutely" -- a nuclear bomb explosion is "cold" compared to the sun, an Earth person is nourished rather than consumed by Fire, and so on. In other words, you have to know all phases and all their interactions to have a definite opinion about the behavior of any one of them in any particular situation. Next you need to determine the extent of seeking-avoidance of all those activities you've mentioned based on whether they relate to a phase that is lucky or the one that is unlucky for a particular individual. All lists that give generic prescriptions are bogus -- you need to look at the individual interplay of phases in every case.

 

You can, however, determine the nature of an activity based on what phase is predominating in it "under normal conditions." In some (rare) cases it's easy and straightforward -- e.g., a fisherman is engaged in a Water phase activity, and an electrician, in a Fire activity. Living in a forest gives you more Wood than living in the desert. But a banker may also be involved in a Water activity, and a farmer or a lumberjack, in a Fire activity, believe it or not. To understand why, you need to study the energies of each phase -- notably their patterns of motion and the way they change as they interact with other phases. It can't be compiled into lists, you need to get a handle on the nature of the energies involved, and then you begin to discern them in each phenomenon you are dealing with.

[Friend]

Thanks for adivice TMeow, Al and ChiD!

 

Q

[ChiDragon]

Hi, Friend...

 

I think what you are after is this. If one has studied Feng Shiu, then he should be familiar with the attributes of the five elements. For example, let's say that the year you were born is Fire. Then, you don't want to be the captain of a ship. Thus, you don't want to associate with anything or people that are attributed to "Water" because water is putting out fire. Anything associated with "water" is not in your favor but only against you.

[Taomeow]

Hi, Friend...

 

I think what you are after is this. If one has studied Feng Shiu, then he should be familiar with the attributes of the five elements. For example, let's say that the year you were born is Fire. Then, you don't want to be the captain of a ship. Thus, you don't want to associate with anything or people that are attributed to "Water" because water is putting out fire. Anything associated with "water" is not in your favor but only against you.

 

Except the information of the "element of the year of birth" accounts for 1/8 of the reading, namely the Heavenly Stem part of the Year Pillar, and by itself has nothing to predict about the interactions of all the five phases in the Month, Day, and Hour Pillars. Just knowing that you were born in the year of Fire leaves out 7/8 of all the information about the Wuxing layout of your birth and your destiny. Just think for a moment. If it was the way you say it is, all people born in the same year would be very similar and would need to seek and avoid the same energies. I can assure you this is not the case even with twins born within different hours!

 

Of course there's scores of books that have been written by the unscrupulous and the ignorant that base all kinds of predictions and psychological portraits and advice on the "year of birth." Shame on their greedy, dishonest, or clueless authors.

[ChiDragon]

Well, I was only given a general idea. The prediction is really goes from the year down to month, day and hours. It is a very broad subject to go into which it cannot be done here. Please don't take it too literally anything we said here without going into the depth of the subject....

 

FYI...

In the Chinese divination system, it was a lot more complicated. The five elements were categorized are different for male and female. There is a distinction for yin-fire and yang-fire as oppose to yin-water and yang-water. People who are three years apart are opposing each other and four years apart are aiding. The whole system is complicated as hell. This is something we wouldn't want to go into here...

Edited October 4, 2011 by ChiDragon

[Gerard]

[Friend]

Edited November 16, 2011 by Friend

[Taomeow]

Nice, Gerard. Let's take a closer look.

 

Fire...rising Qi in an outward and radiating fashion

Wood...expanding Qi, growing Qi in an upward fashion

Earth...balancing Qi, centering, collecting but not inward

Metal...contracting Qi, solidifying, condensing and inward

Water...descending Qi, flowing and dissolving

 

Now that's one list important to remember, short and sweet. However, Earth here is out of a different system. There's two ways the Five Phases are arranged, one traditional circular, where they all generate each other and no phase is "special," the other one a later development (in all likelihood a borrowing from another paradigm), with Earth placed in the center and the other four in a square around it. The "balancing" Earth is from this latter system. In the original circular arrangement the qi of Earth rotates. It's not "balancing" in a circle anymore than any other phase -- it can be part of a balanced or of an out-of-balance layout of an individual chart. In either case, Water descends, Fire ascends, etc., and Earth rotates -- it is a spinning, rotating, revolving pattern of qi. (Taoists knew that our planet rotates long before Galileo and Copernicus. ). This is important to know when analyzing someone's Bazi chart, because if you are looking at someone with proprietary ('self') Earth or with the predominance of Earth among phases, or with an Earth excess or deficiency, this tells you right away what some of the traits and some of the problems are going to be.

 

A balanced Earth will establish patterns and follow them fruitfully, it will be orderly, organized, learning by much repetition and continuously improving in the process. It may mean, e.g., being diligent in cultivation practices, performing the same actions over and over again that will keep maturing toward improvement, perhaps perfection. An out-of-balance Earth, on the other hand, e.g. excessive, will be stuck in a rut, doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different outcome... this will be a repetitive neurotic pattern quite different from a repetitive learning/cultivation pattern, but the rotating, going over the same routines tendency will still be there. Earth rotates. A deficient Earth, in the meantime, may result in a lack of routines, always trying something new and never accomplishing much before moving on to something different, jack of all trades master of none problems. And so on.

 

More later... thanks for the thoughtful and stimulating entries.

[Friend]

Edited November 16, 2011 by Friend

[ChiDragon]

North Black Tortoise or Creature called XuanWu

South Red Phoenix

East Green Dragon

West White Tiger

 

http://jack66112211.pixnet.net/album/photo/112698646

[JustARandomPanda]

How does one start applying Wuxing to one's own life? Especially if one does not have the luxury of a birth certificate that lists the hour/minutes of one's birth?

[lienshan]

How does one start applying Wuxing to one's own life?

A simple start could be having a look at this GREAT scheme:

 

 

 

 

There are four elements and the fifth is yourself looking at the scheme.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

I posted the following in this thread and it might make sense here too. It's just my own considerations of how the 5 elements works in everyday situations, and how the relationships can be used in a Wu Wei sort of way. I'm calling it Feng Shui Kung Fu, but I'd be surprised if there isn't a text somewhere that discusses these relationships. Actually if anyone's seen these somewhere, please do let me know where I can read more about them!

 

 

When someone is angry and excited, being earth can put out the fire, or if that doesn't work, being water or immensely flexible can control or redirect them.

 

Drive (wood) can control earth (tranquil)

Tranquil earth leads to metal (intellect)

water (openness, flexibility, courage) can lead to drive (wood)

lack of direction (water) can be controlled by calm (earth) and reduced by drive (wood)

metal (intellect) can control or direct drive (wood)

 

too much thinking (metal) can be reduced by acceptance/flexibility/courage (water)

thought (metal) can be controlled or directed by excitement (fire)

lack of direction (water) can be controlled by calm (earth) and reduced by planning (metal)

 

Also, they say the extreme of yang leads to yin and extreme of yin leads to yang. Looking at the 5 elements: extreme of fire (excitement) leads to earth (calm), extreme of water (adaptation) leads to wood (drive).

extreme of thinking (metal) ends up in wishy-washy (water) like procrastination. The extreme of wish-washy leads to drive (wood) [edit:] or alternately courage (water/kidneys) leads to drive.

 

also earth (tranquility) leads to metal (thought) leads to water (courage/adaptation/flexibility) leads to wood (drive) leads to fire (excitement) leads to earth (calm/rest) leads to metal (thought), etc..

Edited October 13, 2011 by Harmonious Emptiness

[ChiDragon]

How does one start applying Wuxing to one's own life? Especially if one does not have the luxury of a birth certificate that lists the hour/minutes of one's birth?

 

You cant.

[Taomeow]

You cant.

 

Well, that's what I said a while ago, but given that I can't be caught agreeing with ChiDragon ...

 

SB, it can be done in person. I wouldn't presume to "guess" at the missing Pillar without seeing, hearing, and asking a bunch of questions, applying face/body/tongue readings, etc., but I could figure it out based on this info if I had all the rest of the reading. So, either holler when you're in SoCal, or if you go to China -- I know a TCM doctor there (a taoist trained in the Longmen tradition) who looked at me, took my pulse, asked a few questions, and muttered to himself, without addressing anyone in particular, "hmm, Wood with Fire" -- which was Bazi on sight and exactly correct. I was blown away. I couldn't do it in a minute, but give me the rest of the chart and half an hour in person...

 

I'm sure there's someone closer to where you are who could do it to, but I would seek references before trusting... lots of people like to say they can do whatever just because they can say it.

[ChiDragon]

Taomeow...

They didn't let you get away, did they...???...